Star gets goal, two assists as team takes lead in East

Associated Press

Updated 12:22 am, Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Sidney Crosby had a hand in both early goals and Pittsburgh converted on two of its first three shots Monday night, Chris Kunitz scored twice, and the Penguins beat Alex Ovechkin's struggling Washington Capitals 3-2.

Crosby finished with his 30th goal and two assists to raise his NHL-leading point total to 87, matching his uniform number. The Penguins beat Washington for the seventh consecutive time and overtook idle Boston for the Eastern Conference's best record.

The Capitals, who began the day outside of the playoff picture in 10th place in the East, have lost four of their past five games.

Coyotes 4, Lightning 3 (SO): Radim Vrbata scored the lone shootout goal. Vrbata beat Ben Bishop with a backhand. Mike Smith stopped all three Lightning shootout shots. Ondrej Palat got the Lightning even at 3-all on his second goal of the game, coming from the low slot with the Tampa Bay net empty and 37.2 seconds left in regulation. Palat also had an assist. Brandon McMillan, Martin Erat and Mikkel Boedker scored for the Coyotes, who trail eighth-place Dallas by one point in the Western Conference. Tampa Bay, 1-4-2 since the Olympic break ended, also got a goal from Tyler Johnson.

Stars, Blue Jackets ppd: The game between Dallas and Columbus was postponed by the NHL after Stars forward Rich Peverley collapsed on the bench during the first period. Play was halted 6:23 in as Peverley was quickly carried from the bench. A public address announcement was made several minutes later that the 31-year-old Peverley was conscious and taken to a hospital. "We treated (Peverley) for a cardiac event successfully," Dr. Gil Salazar said. "As soon as we treated him, he regained consciousness. He was able to tell me where he was." There was no immediate announcement of when the game would be made up.